Wednesday Links – Get Thinking, Get Feminist, Get Links

A few things on my radar today, mostly because of a friend has been musing about feminism and I thought of posting a few resources and links.

A book recommendation, something that I’ve read several times (and had to replace after dropping it in the bath, which is actually a good sign because it means that that I’m taking time to savour it over steam): Reclaiming the F Word: The New Feminist Movementby Catherine Redfern and Kristin Aune:

In today’s “post-feminist” society, women and men are considered equal. For younger women and men, feminism is often portrayed as unfashionable and irrelevant. But since the beginning of the new millennium a new generation have emerged to challenge these assumptions and assert a vibrant new agenda. This groundbreaking book reveals the what, why and how of the new feminist movement and what it has to say about women’s lives in today’s society. From cosmetic surgery to celebrity culture and girl power to globalization, from rape to religion and sex to singleness, this book reveals the seven vital issues at stake for today’s feminists, unveils the beginnings of a fresh and diverse wave of feminism, and calls a new generation back to action.

So, yeah, I wanted to be very clear that these letters are part of a larger cultural paradigm that is a direct outgrowth of male privilege. Can women be creepy? Yes, for sure. They are human and capable of anything that humans are capable of. But when they are creepy, they don’t have an entire culture backing them up and explaining why their creepiness isn’t that bad.

On the fifth day… a female journalist bizarrely insisted that an article debating the benefits of chocolate should be written by a female: “woman needs to say chocolate is good.” She then went on to say that a science piece should be cut, commenting, “Women will glaze over—space and history—you’ll lose half your readership.” The editor did not disagree. On the sixth day, a senior journalist sitting across from me repeatedly made transphobic comments to a peer who was discussing a potential story on a trans person with him. His remarks included, “He? She? It?” “There has to be a photo of it” and “You should put the heading—‘My Life As A She-Man!’ or ‘G-Boy.’” No one in the newsroom reacted.

…Huzzah to the future of online, diverse reporting. Even if it **** up, at least it’s not as bad as The Hun.

Finally, because I think I Tweeted them but not blogged them – and they deserve readers:

My trip to Camp Quest: Engaging with children: “When I was Ten nobody asked me what I thought about politics and the influence that it has upon personal identity and freedom. I like to think that if they had I would have provided them with answers or ideas that were as brilliant and as insightful as those I heard offered today in the ‘Philosophy for Children’ session I was allowed to sit in on at Camp Quest UK.”

A whole generation of young women has been and is, as we live and breathe, being spurred towards the field of forensic science, which is conspicuous among science and science related fields for one demographic reality — it’s dominated by women, not men.

Kylie Sturgess is a Philosophy teacher, media and psychology student, blogger at Patheos and podcaster at Token Skeptic. She has conducted over a hundred interviews including artists, scientists, politicians and activists, worldwide. She’s the author of the ‘Curiouser and Curiouser‘ column at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry website and travels internationally lecturing on feminism, skepticism, and science.

bradc

Thanks for the link to Captain Awkward. That’s a good advice column, there. With surprisingly excellent comments.

kaboobie

I also want to thank you for introducing me to Captain Awkward. I immediately added the site to my RSS feed. Great answers to some very disturbing letters (and the one that came after those two is even more disturbing).

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About The Author

Kylie Sturgess is a Philosophy teacher, media and psychology student, blogger at Patheos and podcaster at Token Skeptic. She has conducted over a hundred interviews including artists, scientists, politicians and activists, worldwide.